Australian Alps Walking Track (SOBO – South Bound)
Section 1(5 days): Days 1 – 5 to Food Drop 1
2/04/2025 – 6/04/2025 Namadgi National Park Visitor Centre (Tharwa) – Gurrangorambla Creek (Pockets Saddle Road)
Distance: 78.1km Total Ascent: 3,696m Total Descent: 2,949m
Time: 39 hours Moving Time: 21 hours
Participants: Damien Aggio (Report), Stephen Davies (Report, Photos)
After months of research, planning and preparation, Damien and I were finally ready to tackle the AAWT. With my wife, Sue, acting as our support person, we set off early on Tuesday, 1/04/2025, for a 5-hour drive to Kiandra to stash what would be our second food drop. From here, we had a one-hour drive along the gravel Tantangara and Pocket Saddle Roads to Gurrangorambla Creek to stash our first food drop. Another hour drive saw us at Alpine Tourist Park, Adaminaby, setting up our tents for the night. Sue and I would be trying out my new Durston X-Mid Pro 2 Dyneema tent, a 510g tent bought just for the AAWT. Our pub dinner was one to forget.
9/06/2022 – 18/06/2022 Kiandra – Pollocks Creek – Selwyn – Tabletop Mountain – Tabletop Mountain Trail South – Arsenic Ridge – Arsenic Creek – Happy Jacks Road – Tibeaudo Creek – Boobee Hut – Diggers Creek (Northern Tributary) – Doubtful Gap – Doubtful Gap Trail – Doubtful Creek – Cesjacks Hut – Doubtful Creek – Macalister Saddle – Toolong Range – Geehi River – Tarn Bluff – Mailbox Hill – Cup and Saucer – Brassy Mountains – Valentine Creek – Tin Hut – Valentine Creek – Gungartan Pass – Dicky Cooper Creek – Schlink Pass Road – Schlink Pass – The Rolling Ground – Whites River Hut – Munyang River – The Rolling Ground – The Granite Peaks – Guthega Trig Spur – Guthega Dam – Farm Creek – Illawong Walk – Snowy River – Spencers Creek Suspension Bridge – Mount Guthrie – Snowy River – Charlotte Pass – Summit Walk – Snowy River Pole-line – Kosciuszko Walk – Kosciuszko Express – Thredbo
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo Country
Distance: 120km Total Ascent: 4500m Total Descent: 4000m Time: 51 hours
Participants: Damien Aggio, Stephen Davies (Photos, Report)
Following excellent snowfalls in early June, Damien saw an opportunity present itself for an extended backcountry ski trip. The classic K to K (Kiandra to Mount Kosciuszko) over 11 days, including car shuffle, was proposed. He promptly made a few phone calls and posted his trip on the New South Wales Nordic Ski Club website to gauge interest.
After two very CoVid 19 disrupted previous seasons I jumped at the opportunity to join in after last attempting this trip, solo, in 1986 when I was forced to finish early via Guthega Power Station due to cold, windy, whiteout conditions.
30/08/1986 – 4/09/1986 Kiandra – Four Mile Creek – Happy Jacks Creek – Cesjacks Hut – Whites River Hut – Guthega Power Station
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo country
Distance: 70km Total Ascent: 2220m Total Descent: 2250m
Participant: Stephen Davies (Report)
This trip was one had I wanted to do for a while and after deciding to run a marathon early next year and try to do it in under three hours this trip was doubling as a training exercise. I wanted to make it difficult so carried a lot of gear, my pack weighing 66 pound (30kg) as I left.